Picture - Cosmic Polymath

DESIGN IN THE REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH OF PLANTS 367
produces only its own kind. Plants and animals in reproducing themselves cannot dissociate themselves from the
matter of the universe and the forces and laws which govern and compel it, nolens volens, to assume certain distinct
forms. A more comprehensive scheme and division of plants and animals than has yet been attempted becomes
possible. Hitherto, classifications have hinged largely on slender and, in many cases, trifling points of agreement.
This is well seen in the case of animals, where the data for classification consist of the possession or non-possession
of a stomach or its equivalent ; the number and nature of the teeth ; the presence or absence of segmentation, a
back-bone and extremities ; the possession or non-possession of gills and lungs ; the presence or absence of a
circulatory apparatus, and a heart with one, two, three, or four cavities ; the presence or absence of glands,
lymphatics, a muscular, osseous, nervous system and sense organs ; the mode of development, placentation, &c.
Now all these pecuharities of structure are directly or indirectly traceable to the food problem.
In the higher animals, a segmented body with muscles, bones, nerves, sense organs, and appendages in the shape
of hmbs, fins, flippers, and wings is necessary to secure the food ; an ahmentary canal with teeth, stomach, glands,
and a lymphatic system to digest and assimilate it ; a circulatory apparatus to distribute it ; and a breathing
apparatus to aerate the blood it produces. When the animal is built up and in a healthy condition, then, and only
then, does the subject of reproduction, placentation, and other peculiarities of development come into play. The
food appetite at once precedes and produces the reproductive appetite. All else follows. The amenities and
pleasures of life largely depend on the abundance and quahty of the food, and on the possession of healthy bodies.
§ 70. Design as Manifested in the Reproduction and Growth of Plants.
The seed of the plant in growing displays design in a marked degree. When planted under-favourable condi-
tions, in a suitable soil, the one part of it (the plumule) ascends into the air and seeks the light and forms the leaves
and stem ; the other part (the radicle) descends into the earth and seeks the darkness and forms the root. The
plumule and radicle never change places or commit mistakes as to their respective positions and functions.^ Drop
seeds as one may, when germination occurs the leaves and stem always ascend while the roots and rootlets descend.
In this a directive agency is displayed either by the seed itself or by a power outside the seed. Clearly the seed
can only grow in one particular way, and it displays, in growing, prescience of a land.
The plant grows upwards by its stem, downwards by its roots, and outwards by its branches and leaves. It
spreads itself in space to carry on its vito-chemical processes. If the vertical stem be placed in a horizontal position
it will, after a time, curve upwards in a perpendicular direction ; if the roots from any chance become exposed, they
will re-enter the ground at the first opportunity.
The plant is imbued with what is virtually a sense of direction. It is a living, sentient, responsive thing. Its
stem, branches, and leaves invariably grow upwards into the air, where there are light, heat, and moisture ;
and the
roots as invariably grow downwards into the soil, where there are darkness, gases, moisture, and a certain degree of
heat. The plant has either in itself a guiding power which it exercises spontaneously, or it is controlled by an intel-
lectual Power outside itself. The plant is obviously a conditioned thing, free to act only in certain directions and
within certain hmits. All its parts are controlled to given ends. Its structure is never haphazard. It assumes
an infinite variety of the most beautiful forms, and these are, for the most part, symmetrical. In many cases these
forms are so exact that they resemble crystals ; the parts repeating themselves with admirable precision. In
other cases the parts are arranged in the most exquisite spirals, single and simple, double and compound. There
is no end to the diversity, but design can, in every instance, be traced. In some instances the stems are straight,
in others spiral and twisted, and so of the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit. On making transverse sections of
the parts enumerated, especially the stems and branches, a radiating, concentric arrangement is witnessed similar
to what occurs in many crystals. These indicate rays and rings of growth. There is an obvious analogy in the
fundamental construction of plants and crystals, and also of animals (Plates xxv., xxvi., and xxviii.). They all grow
outwards from centres. These fundamental similarities bespeak design, law, and order.
Plants are constructed to grow in the air, or in the water, or partly the one and partly the other. Some of them
are inchned to burrow more in the ground than others. Whatever their mode of hfe they are all specially adapted.
There is no example of a plant performing a function not intended, and for which there is not structural warrant.
The climbing plants and the sensitive and insectivorous plants are specially designed and endowed, and discharge
their particular functions as apart from so-called irritability, external stimulation, and environment. As hving
things they are superior to their surroundings ; they are, in every instance, masters of the situation.
The plant may vary its structure slightly for a short period and revert to its original ; the individual never
1 Roots when exposed to the air and light occasionally develop leaves, and growing branches imbedded in the soil, at times, produce roots.
These, however, are abnormal conditions, and do not materially affect the general statement, which holds good when the circumstances are natural.